musings on things jazzy and musical

Not the Bath Festival Preview.. but jazz lives on

I have already written my lament for the changed shape of the Bath Festival programme this year. It seems I was not the only one to notice, with my friend Tony writing an open letter to the festival director. Judging by this interview with Alisdair Nicholson, the Artistic Director, our initial impression was accurate. He either hadn’t noticed or didn’t think it was important that Bath’s festival had established an international reputation for an adventurous jazz programme that enriched the rest of the festival. Ho hum. Given his extended tenure and the lack of riots in the streets of Bath in protest, that would seem to be that – barring a twitter storm! I should correct one observation from my previous post. I asserted that there wasn’t going to be a ‘party in the City’ on the opening night. The finalised programme does include that bit of fun. Good. But jazz lives on. I’ll be helping out at Play Jazz Weekend that weekend. A weekend workshop based in the Wiltshire Music Centre ( a mere 8 miles from the festival city). I’ll be mainly making tea and taking sandwich orders and cheering on the efforts of the punters and tutors. It’s always a great weekend and another example of someone (Rachel Kerry in this case) making something happen that enriches lots of people’s lives for no other reason than its a great thing to do (and no particular reward other than the payback of all that joyful noise). It’s in it’s 8th, wholly unsubsidised, year under Rachel’s stewardship. Bravo!